School Meal Application

Three simple steps:

(1) If you will or might qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, or you are unsure if you qualify, please complete the application online at schoolcafe.com.

(2) If you are quite certain you won't qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, or you aren't interested in ever getting a school meal for your child, then please partially complete the paper application form. See below.

(3) If your child might ever eat a school meal, whether free, reduced-price, or paid-for, you will need to create an account at mypaymentsplus.com if you don't already have one.

More explanation and details are below:

It is so important to submit a Meal Application Form (English, Chinese, Spanish), whether you qualify for free or reduced-price meals, whether you don't qualify or aren't sure if you qualify, and whether your child is interested or is not interested in ever eating a school meal.

It turns out that federal, local, and private-grant school funding is based on the total number of completed applications, regardless of whether an applicant qualifies for meal benefits. Every submitted application helps SFUSD except "not interested" applications (so we're just going to avoid those words). Please do submit an application today!

Here's how:

(1) If you will qualify or might qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, or you are unsure if you qualify, please complete the application online at schoolcafe.com. The information you provide is totally secure, and SFUSD would prefer that you complete the process online rather than fill out the paper application form, if you can. You will need to create a login account at schoolcafe.com, and then just follow the steps to fill out the application online.

Please complete the application online even if you are unsure whether you will qualify for meal benefits. SFUSD has found that lots of families that would have qualified did not apply because they were sure they would not qualify. Also you should know that meal benefits are available to all SFUSD families who qualify by income, regardless of parent or child citizenship or resident status.

If you would rather not or cannot complete the application process online, then by all means complete and submit the paper application form. Use one form per household, not per child. Turn it in to school when finished.

(2) If you are quite certain you won't qualify for free or reduced-price school meals (the meal benefits income eligibility chart is on the back of the paper application), or you aren't interested in ever getting a school meal for your child, then please partially complete the paper application form. While SFUSD prefers online applications, the district understands that there is a lot of information that those who don't qualify or aren't interested don't need to provide, which the online process doesn't let you skip. So, paper:

On the paper form, in STEP 1 please write your children's last and first names and list "Jefferson" for the school. If you know their H0 (Student ID) numbers, so much the better. Basically, as much information as would be helpful for SFUSD to identify the students. Full name and school is the minimum. Check the box at the bottom of STEP 1 to indicate your current household income does not qualify for meal benefits.

In STEP 3, please put "Do Not Qualify" into the first big empty box (below "Household Member Name (First and Last)"). SFUSD uses scanners to capture the info in the paper applications, and fitting "Do Not Qualify" into one box is helpful.

Please do not write "Not Interested" even if you are not interested in having your child take any school meals. Those words do not help SFUSD get any funding. Instead, please write "Do Not Qualify."

In STEP 6, please print your name, write your signature, and list the date. And return the form to school. That is all you need to do if you know you won't qualify for free or reduced-price meals or aren't interested in ever taking school meals.

(3) If your child might ever eat a school meal, whether free, reduced-price, or paid-for, you will need to create an account at mypaymentsplus.com if you don't already have one. (Currently elementary school families cannot pay for meals through schoolcafe.com; this is all done through mypaymentsplus.com.) This step is important if your child might ever take a school meal, regardless of payment status. It is the place where you fund your child's meal account (if you need to) and where you can see what food your child got from the cafeteria - always interesting!